St. Pete came in at No. 11 on the list, beat out by a few other Florida cities: Wilton Manors near Miami ranked No. 1, Fort Lauderdale No. 3 and Miami Beach No. 5. The app, similar to Airbnb but focused on gay travelers and LGBT-friendly hosts, compiled a travel index based off its own booking data.

The company measured the volume of searches by location for planned stays from September to December.

The City of St. Pete and its businesses have been working to make the area more appealing to queer tourists. The LGBTQ Welcome Center reopened last month with a new focus on tourism, as well as on helping LGBTQ youth. The Welcome Center, at 2227 Central Ave., has a Visit St. Petersburg-Clearwater kiosk inside and promotes gay-friendly businesses.

St. Petersburg is known for the largest Gay Pride Parade celebrations in the Southeast.

TAMPA--- Hillsborough County Clerk of the Court Pat Frank has named--former Hillsborough Chief Judge Manuel "Manny" Menendez to serve on the committee that will oversee the spending of a new $280 million- yearly sales tax for transportation.

Frank, who under the county charter approved by voters is required to pick one attorney to serve on the 13-member board, announced Menendez as her choice Monday afternoon.

"I am thrilled that retired Judge Menendez has agreed to be my representative on the transportation oversight committee," said Frank. "This new source of stable funding will bring transformational change to our community, but only if the money is spent wisely."

Menendez,-a-graduate of the University of Florida College of Law, served as an assistant U.S. attorney between 1979 and 1983. He was then appointed as a county judge and rose to the circuit bench one year later.

He becomes the second person named to the oversight board following Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn's selection of former state lawmaker Arthenia Joyner last week.

The positions are unpaid and last for a three-year term.

Their focus will be the 30-year penny on the dollar sales tax voters approved Nov. 6.

Under the charter, 54 percent of the tax goes to Hillsborough County, Tampa, Plant City and Temple Terrace, which must spend the money across several categories including congestion relief,-safety,-sidewalks and trails.

Most of the rest goes to the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit authority for expansion of buses and other transit.

The-oversight committee-is authorized to ensure that proposed spending plans meet that criteria with a straight up or down vote.

If two-thirds of the committee find that an agency is not following the charter, it can instruct the clerk of the court to withhold sales taxes.

NASHVILLE - Gradon Coburn only sees his son, Braydon, about three times a year. Of those three, the Lightning's annual Dads trip is the only occasion they get one-on-one time together.

This weekend, when the Lightning players, coaches and staffers brought their fathers along for their time in Philadelphia and Nashville, was no exception.

When the Lightning got to Nashville on Saturday evening, the Coburns went out with a few other players and their dads. After a little while, Braydon turned to his dad and suggested they go talk, just the two of them.

"Every year, it's been a good bonding trip," Braydon said. "Every year I find out something new about his childhood or my Grandpa Gordon or my Grandma Martha. It's just neat to have that time and be able to pick his brain."

He said the trips have brought he and his dad closer over his 15 years in the NHL. Saturday, they talked about Braydon's childhood playing hockey in Shaunavon, Saskatchewan. Gradon was surprised by some of the things Braydon remembers from such a young age.

Braydon moved away at 14, when his parents sent him to a private school. Then he played junior hockey in Portland (1,900 miles from home), was drafted by Atlanta and spent the bulk of his career in Philadelphia before being traded to Tampa Bay.

"I maybe see him three times a year," Gradon said. "He's always been far away, so it's nice to come down here for a couple of days."

The only downside is Gradon is a "terrible roommate" and "incredibly loud snorer," according to Braydon. So Braydon made sure to pack earplugs.

Over the years, Gradon has gotten to know the other dads, as well. The Lightning haven't had a lot of turnover, so most of the dads have been coming back year after year. Two years ago, on the same Philadelphia-Nashville trip, Andrei Vasilevskiy asked Gradon to look after his father, who doesn't speak any English. By the end of the trip, they were able to understand each other pretty well without knowing each other's languages.

Neither Vasilevskiy's father nor Mikhail Sergachev's father, who Gradon also got to know, were able to make the trip this year. Sergachev made sure to pass his father's greetings along to Gradon, though.

For Rocco Cirelli, making his first dads trip with his son Anthony, it's been nice to get a better feel for what his son's life is like.

"You get to see the people that they're with and the family they've built there," he said. "Seeing it for yourself reinforces that they're in a good place. This helps relieve some of that worry and stress."

Now, Cirelli's and Victor Hedman's mom are both lobbying for a moms trip.

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{7B0401B5-07F1-46C7-E053-0100007F74AD}Pubdate:Mon, 19 Nov 2018 16:43:06 -0500TAMPA - Even before he arrived at the office the morning after election night, Jeff Seward was calling in instructions to the bus agency he heads.

Voters had just approved a new transportation sales tax that will boost the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit authority's yearly operating budget from about $80 million to $200 million. Suddenly, the agency that was cutting routes in 2017 is now eyeing dozens of projects and bus service improvements that have languished on the drawing board for years.

"You all need to take a look at how we can more buses here and get them fast," Seward, interim chief executive, told his operations team.

The changes will begin in 2019 with the expansion of the University area connector and the frequency of four major bus routes to every 15 minutes. In all, the agency hopes to add 900,000 miles of new service in 2019, which will require 30 new buses and a hiring blitz to find more than 60 new drivers.

And that is just the start.

New routes will be added in the next three years, Seward said, and the agency will begin planning for a new mass transit system linking the University area, downtown Tampa and Westshore as required by the county charter change that voters approved.

"This is a new world for HART financially,-&quot; Seward said at an executive committee meeting of the agency's governing board Monday.

The new tax comes after years in which HART has struggled to provide countywide bus service. Declining ridership and rising expenses led to a cut of nearly 20 percent in bus routes during October 2017.

The current operating budget of $80 million, all from property taxes, is on a par with Fairfax, Va., and Albany, N.Y., according to Federal Transit Administration data. And it's roughly $17 million less than the transit agency in Cincinnati, Ohio, which serves a similar sized population.

But the influx of $124 million per year from the new sales tax will put Hillsborough on a par with communities like San Antonio and Las Vegas. More buses should mean more revenue from the fare box too.

The move to 15 minute intervals for HART's busiest routes is considered a necessary step to grow ridership and to attract people who have their own transportation. Studies suggest that when wait times are longer, people will no longer just turn up and wait for a bus without first consulting a schedule. The four routes now run every 30 minutes during peak times.

"Even if you just miss the bus, in 14 minutes you can get another one," Seward said.

It typically takes up to a year for delivery of the buses used by HART, at a cost of $500,000 each and powered by compressed natural gas. But HART is negotiating with supplier Gillig to reduce that to six months and if that fails, the agency may lease buses.

HART recently purchased eight used buses from the transit agency in Sarasota to replace aging buses in its fleet. Now, those buses are likely to go into service sooner.

The hiring of drivers will also likely be a challenge since the agency is still involved in collective bargaining with the driver's union.

The changes wrought by the influx of the sales tax don't end on the road.

The agency is planning a major marketing campaign to grow bus ridership and is seeking the help of financial consultants to manage its new revenue streams. It will have to shift from a single-fund accounting system and it plans to hire Clifton Larsen Allen and the Public Resources Advisory Group for advice on managing interest, borrowing and cash flow modeling.

"There is a lot more planning involved," Seward said.

The expansion of bus service planned for 2019 must still be approved by the full HART governing board next week. These are among dozens of proposed enhancements that were identified in the agency's Transit Development Plan, which was developed with input from the public.

But with new funding now available, it makes sense for HART to go back to the public and the business community to make sure these still are the projects it should develop, Seward said.

Members of the finance committee said the extra funding will mean extra scrutiny of the agency to ensure it is spending tax dollars in the best way. But there was clear excitement about the options the extra funding has created.

"It is such an incredible opportunity that voters in Hillsborough County gave us in wanting to have a high quality transit system in Hillsborough County" said board member Pat Kemp, who is also a county commissioner.-&quot;Our bus service has been terrible. This is very exciting."

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{7B0C4C47-7091-7391-E053-0100007F7043}Pubdate:Mon, 19 Nov 2018 16:34:52 -0500TAMPA - Leave it to the arrival of a visionary investor like Sir Richard Branson to help flesh out the vision for Brightline's proposed Tampa-to-Orlando passenger train service.

The same day, Virgin Trains USA filed notice of a common stock offering with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission giving more detail for Brightline's proposed Tampa expansion.

The company hopes to launch rail service along the Interstate 4 corridor from Tampa to Orlando in 2021 and it expects ridership to take two years to ramp up.

Travel time between the two cities is projected to be an hour - Virgin's trains will have a top speed of 125 mph - compared with 90 minutes by car and 2 hours and 5 minutes for Amtrak's Silver Star. The trains feature leather seats, food and beverage service and free high-speed WiFi. Virgin projects it can hit these goals by capturing about 2 percent of the travel market between Miami and Tampa, considerably less than the 10 to 30 percent market share held by established rail service like Acela in the northeastern U.S. or Italo in Italy.

Creating the Tampa-to-Orlando service has an estimated cost of $1.7 billion. Virgin projects 2.9 million passengers a year between the two cities, with a $73 ticket price - more than $100 less than the average Acela fare of $174 - generating nearly $212 million a year in ticket revenue. Virgin expects food and beverage sales, parking, naming rights, sponsorships and partnerships, merchandise, advertising and other fees to equal about 14 percent of total revenues, or about $12 per passenger.

Virgin anticipates a Tampa terminal somewhere in or near downtown Tampa with "adjacent real estate for commercial development." Brightline's business model combines using rail to connect cities with traffic and congestion, and developing real estate around its terminals to cater to businesses and residents drawn to the alternative that rail provides in a dense and active urban environment. In the Overtown area near downtown Miami, its terminal is at the heart of a 1.6 million-square-foot privately financed development that includes two office towers, two apartment towers, 130,000 square feet of stores and restaurants.

But in Tampa, Virgin said, "we have not yet acquired all real property interests necessary for the Tampa Expansion," adding that some "must be acquired from private parties."

Of the Tampa sites that Brightline is known to have scouted, the old Morgan Street jail site is owned by the state of Florida, Tampa Union Station is owned by the city of Tampa, the Tampa Park Apartments are owned by a nonprofit group headed by Florida Sentinel Bulletin newspaper publisher S. Kay Andrews and the GasWorx property, near the proposed Ybor City site of a new Tampa Bay Rays stadium, is owned by investor Darryl Shaw.

Virgin also said it expects to contract with "municipal and private parties to purchase, lease or otherwise obtain the right to use land for the construction and operation of the Tampa expansion."

They aren't quarterbacks who win. They are quarterbacks who beat themselves.

Sure, the Bucs on Sunday racked up more than 500 yards of offense for the fifth time this season. They've gained more passing yards than any team through 10 games in NFL history, more than even the 2000 "Greatest Show on Turf" Rams.

Maybe they're not so bad. They lost to the Giants by only three points, after all. They've played in seven one-score games this season and a league-high 17 since the start of last season.

A bounce here, a bounce there, right?

No.

No. No. No.

And furthermore:

Forget all that. Forget the yards. Forget the close games. Forget the decisions on fourth down. Forget the kickers.

In the grand scheme, those things are meaningless.

Turnovers matter. They matter more than almost anything else except touchdowns. Simply put, the more touchdowns a team scores, the more likely it is to win, and the more turnovers it commits, the more likely it is to lose. More than 40 percent of a team's win total can be determined solely by its turnover margin, according to ESPN.

It can't be overstated: In a game in which each team has a limited number of possessions, every time a team gives the ball away that's one less opportunity for it to score points and one more opportunity for its opponent to score points.

You know this, of course. You've been living it.

Not just this season. Or last season. You've been living it since 1976.

Since then, the Bucs have committed almost 1,400 turnovers. Only the Cardinals and Rams have committed more. It's no coincidence that Tampa Bay has the NFL's worst win percentage in that span.

This season, the Bucs have committed a league-high 29, and no one else is particularly close. The Bills and Jets each have committed 22.

They not only give the ball away but also never take it back. They've forced just six turnovers. Only the 49ers, their next opponent, have forced fewer (five).

It's not luck. Bucs defenders often aren't even in position to contest catches. Eli Manning threw 18 passes Sunday, and for the most part he didn't have to throw the ball very far to find an open receiver.

Odell Beckham? Open.

Saquon Barkley? Open.

Evan Engram? Open.

Wayne Gallman? Open.

David Meggett? Open.

The Bucs have recorded a league-low 23 passes defended this season. Cornerback Brent Grimes had more than that by himself in 2016. To be sure, injuries and inexperience are factors. They're flat-out undermanned. As a result, they're playing a lot of zone coverages, which a veteran like Manning can easily diagnose and exploit.

So how bad is it exactly? If you've wondered lately whether Tampa Bay will win another game this season, you're not being overly pessimistic. These Bucs have the mark of a winless or near winless team. They're on pace to have the largest turnover differential ever. Yes, EVER.

Here's the company Tampa Bay is keeping:

• The 1965 Steelers (minus-30 turnover margin, the NFL record): What are the Steelers doing sharing a list with the Bucs? This was before Chuck Noll. Before L.C. Greenwood. Before Mean Joe Greene. Before Terry Bradshaw. Before Mel Blount. Before Jack Ham, Franco Harris, Mike Webster, Lynn Swann, John Stallworth and Jack Lambert. In other words, in 1965 the Steelers weren't yet the Steelers. Record: 2-12.

• The 1989 Cowboys (minus-25): This was Jimmy Johnson's and Troy Aikman's first season in Dallas. It also was Herschel Walker's last. On Oct. 12, the Cowboys sent their best player to Minnesota in the largest trade in NFL history. Though the deal was panned initially, the draft picks Dallas acquired helped it build the core of three championship teams. The Cowboys tanked before all the cool kids started doing it. Record: 1-15.

• The 2000 Chargers (minus-28): The Chargers, like the Bucs, actually were trying to be competitive. But they had Ryan Leaf. They didn't have much of a run game (1,062 yards), either. No team since has struggled as much, not even Tampa Bay. As a reward for its futility, San Diego received the top pick in the 2001 draft and then traded it to Atlanta. The Falcons took Michael Vick; the Chargers took LaDainian Tomlinson and Drew Brees. Record: 1-15.

• The 2017 Browns (minus-28): The Browns followed up their 1-15 2016 campaign by losing every game in 2017. By going 1-31, they set an NFL record for worst win percentage over a two-season span, a record once held by the 1976-77 Bucs. Their next great hope: quarterback Baker Mayfield. Record: 0-16.

This Bucs free fall isn't stopping. There's not a quarterback they can turn to or a coach they can fire. There's nothing between them and the bottom.

NFL standings: Tampa Bay edition

If the season ended today, this would be the order of the 2019 NFL draft (first tiebreaker is strength of schedule):

1. 49ers (2-8)

2. Cardinals (2-8)

3. Raiders (2-8)

4. Jets (3-7)

5. Giants (3-7)

6. Bills (3-7)

7. Bucs (3-7)

Storylines

• The Bucs are hard to look at, and they're not going to get any easier on the eyes next season. They have no plans to introduce new uniforms in 2019.

The Bucs could use another cornerback or four, so they should jump in the Ramsey sweepstakes, right? A couple of things to consider: 1.) 30 other teams will be interested, so the price the former Florida State star will be high, likely astronomical. 2.) Tampa Bay has done this before - in 2013 with Darrelle Revis - and it backfired badly.

Granted, Revis was coming off a major knee injury, was 28 during that season and was playing under a coach and general manager desperate to keep their jobs. Ramsey will be 25 next season and won't be eligible for free agency until 2021.

Ramsey is a playmaker, but he can be prone to allowing big plays, too, which we saw during the Jaguars loss to the Steelers on Sunday. Though he picked off Ben Roethlisberger twice, he also allowed a 25-yard completion late that set up a game-winning touchdown.

No word yet on whether the Bucs also will seek to raid George W. Bush's cabinet and pursue Colin Powell.

• Tight end O.J. Howard, arguably Tampa Bay's best player, suffered an ankle injury Sunday and didn't return to the game. He was evaluated further today and is in the process of getting a second opinion.

• In his Bucs debut, Cairos Santos made all five of his extra points. That's great and all, but before we hand him the keys to Tampa, let's see how he kicks in front of the home crowd.

• Looking ahead to the 49ers' visit, it will be a homecoming for Matt Breida, the former star running back at Nature Coast Tech High in Brooksville. Breida, who signed with San Francisco after the 2017 NFL draft (the draft in which Tampa Bay chose Jeremy McNichols in the fifth round), is enjoying a breakout season. He has gained 756 yards from scrimmage and scored five touchdowns. Bucs running backs Peyton Barber, Jacquizz Rodgers, Ronald Jones and Shaun Wilson have gained 814 yards from scrimmage and have scored three touchdowns.

• Sunday will be a reunion of sorts for Todd Monken and Nick Mullens, who has gone from practice squad player to 49ers starting quarterback. Monken recruited Mullens to Southern Mississippi in 2013, and two seasons later Mullens set school single-season records in touchdown passes (38), passing yards (4,476) and completions (331). He also holds records in career touchdown passes (87) and passing yards (11,994).

What I got right

What I got wrong

That the Bucs could beat the Giants with play-action passes. Fitzpatrick and Winston combined to complete 6 of 8 passes for 84 yards, no touchdowns and one interception. Manning, however, completed all 10 of his passes for 155 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions.

The Yankees great is expected to get near unanimous support from the 400-plus voting members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

Other newcomers include the late Roy Halladay (who won two Cy Young awards), Andy Pettitte, Todd Helton, Michael Young and Miguel Tejada.

Among the 15 holdovers on the ballot are Tampa native Fred McGriff and longtime Mariners 3B/DH Edgar Martinez, who are in their 10th and final year of eligibility. Also, Tampa's Gary's Sheffield and Manny Ramirez, who played briefly for the Rays.

A player must be named on 75 percent of the ballots cast to be elected (and 5 percent to remain on the ballot). Votes are due Dec. 31 and results will be announced Jan. 22.

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{7AA46DCB-90AE-4805-E053-0100007F0F7D}Pubdate:Wed, 14 Nov 2018 16:00:48 -0500Chefs in professional kitchens are constantly coming up with ways to do things just a bit quicker and more efficiently. I picked up some tips and tricks when I participated in a five-day boot camp at the Culinary Institute of America in New York in October. The chef presiding over the class, David Bruno, graduated from the school in the '80s before going on to work in restaurant kitchens.

Aside from a kitchen stocked with every cooking tool imaginable, my favorite part of the class was asking Bruno how to do things smarter and faster. He was full of advice - so much so that he said the school will be starting a boot camp built around these tips.

One of my favorite little tricks: When you're dredging something like chicken cutlets in egg and breading, designate a wet hand and a dry hand, and put the other one behind your back while you dredge with the other, so you don't confuse them and wind up with bread crumbs in your egg.

I thought some of these tips would be useful for preparing Thanksgiving dinner, usually one of the largest and most elaborate meals home cooks make all year. The main takeaway? Prep work will save you loads of time and sanity on the actual day. Make whatever you can in advance, even the little things that you don't think will take much time. Here are five other things that may help.

Make your own stock. Homemade stock will make almost every dish on your Thanksgiving table better. That is just a fact. Making stock can be intimidating, but it plays a very important role in the pro kitchen, and boxed stock bears little resemblance to the real thing. We always had some on hand in our culinary class, and used it in just about every recipe to deglaze a pan, add moisture to meats, thin out and add more flavor to soups and stews, and even flavor mashed potatoes. Basically, anything that needs more moisture or flavor could use a spoonful of stock. Make it this weekend so it's ready for use on Thanksgiving. Freeze any leftovers in 1-cup portions. And another tip: Save the turkey carcass and make a post-Thanksgiving stock using the same recipe, just switch the chicken for turkey.

Prepare mise en place the day before. Mise en place is French for "everything in its place," and in the kitchen it refers to the gathering and preparing of ingredients before you set out to cook a dish. But you don't have to do this right before you prepare the meal. You can chop everything that needs to be chopped the day before (or even two days before) and store it in zip-top bags until you're ready to use it. Consider taking an hour or so in the coming days and filling bags with diced onion, chopped carrots or celery, minced garlic, lemon wedges - things you know you'll need come Thursday.

Make a roux in advance. A roux is a thickening agent made from butter and flour that is the key ingredient in dishes like macaroni and cheese. Typically, it's made just before adding milk or other liquid to the pan, which becomes a sauce. But you can stop before adding the liquid, scoop the flour-butter mixture into a container and refrigerate it for 2 or 3 days or freeze it for longer, and use whenever you need it. To make, simply melt butter in a small saucepan, sprinkle an equal amount of flour over the melted butter and whisk until it's thoroughly combined. Cook, stirring often, for a couple of minutes over medium heat until the roux is a pale yellow.

Identify your cookware before you cook. This is such a "duh" piece of advice, but it stuck with me. Far too often, I wait until the last minute to find the proper cooking vessel, only to see it sitting dirty in the dishwasher. Not all skillets serve the same purpose. If you're frying something, you'll want a deeper skillet to contain oil. Finding these items ahead of time is especially important on Thanksgiving, when we use tools and dishes we don't use any other time of year. Better yet, identify cooking vessels that can go from oven or stovetop to table. Think through your meal and locate what you need now. That way if you need two roasting pans, Aunt Mary can bring one over.

Use your senses. Every day at boot camp, we made dishes from a book of recipes. And every day, there was something off about one of the recipes. Chef Bruno was quick to tell us to ignore that, and to use our five senses to make good cooking decisions. If you're sauteing something, it's probably done when it has good color If something is burning, you'll be able to smell it. One of the best ways to tell if a piece of meat is done is to poke it with your finger. And, this may be the most important one: Taste your food constantly, and adjust flavors as you go. As you're preparing your Thanksgiving dishes, don't be afraid to go off-recipe and use your instincts.

TAMPA - The Bucs will not place linebacker Kendell Beckwith on the team's 53-man roster in time for Wednesday afternoon's deadline to activate him, meaning Beckwith won't play this season.

Beckwith suffered a broken ankle in a car accident riding as a passenger back in April, an injury that required surgery. He opened the season on the non-football injury active list.

The Bucs started the clock on a 21-day practice window on Oct. 31, giving the team three weeks to either place Beckwith on the active roster or place him on the NFI inactive list, which would end his season.

In recent days, head coach Dirk Koetter said that Beckwith was making significant progress toward being active, but ultimately, he could not get ready in time.

"Kendell made progress, and he worked his tail off to get back," Koetter said. "I don't think people can appreciate how serious a surgery that he had, and it was an uphill battle. He worked hard to get back, but he's just not going to get back to a point where he feels comfortable playing at the level that he knows he can play at."

The Bucs were counting a return from Beckwith - who made 73 tackles, including seven for loss, as a rookie last season - to help an injury-riddled linebacker corps.

The Bucs are already without starting middle linebacker Kwon Alexander for the season with a torn ACL. Outside linebacker Lavonte David missed Sunday's game with an MCL sprain. Reserve Jack Cichy is also out for the season with an ACL tear.

The Bucs will go back to the future by starting Jameis Winston at quarterback Sunday against the 49ers.

Bucs coach Dirk Koetter reached the decision early Monday but did not make the announcement in his news conference, waiting until he had a chance to meet individually with both Winston and Ryan Fitzpatrick.

Fitzpatrick was benched in the third quarter Sunday after throwing three interceptions in the Bucs' 38-35 loss to the New York Giants. Winston led the Bucs to touchdowns on four straight possessions. He finished 12 of 16 passing for 199 yards with two touchdowns and one interception at the end of the game.

"He played better. Yup," Koetter said of Winston. "You're asking me to put a statistical number on it. He played better. He got us in the end zone four straight times. For the most part, he made good decisions with the football.''

Including Winston's three-game suspension, it's the fourth time the Bucs have changed their starting quarterback. Koetter acknowledged that the rotation has been disruptive to both players.

"For sure, to those players in particular, of course, of course both those guys would rather have played the whole time," Koetter said. "You know, how much it's been disruptive to everyone else? That's difficult to say, but you know, our quarterback play in general has been spectacular at times and not good enough at times.

"That's just the story of where we're at on offense right now. Almost every game, we get some beautiful, beautiful play at quarterback. Some tremendous throws, some great decision-making, some beautiful adjustments. But at other times, we got some bad decision-making that resulted in turnovers, and that's hurting our team."

The Bucs lead the NFL with 23 interceptions. Fitzpatrick has 12 and Winston has 11.

Fitzpatrick started the season by throwing for 400 yards in each of his first three games, an NFL record. He stunned the New Orleans Saints in the season opener by throwing for 417 yards and four touchdowns. He followed that up with a 402-yard, 4 TD performance in a win over the defending Super Bowl champion Eagles and was named the NFL Offensive Player of the Week for the second straight game.

Fitzpatrick threw three interceptions in as many plays in the Bucs 30-27 loss to the Steelers on Monday Night Football. After falling behind by five touchdowns in the first half at Chicago, Fitzpatrick was benched the first time for Winston in the second half.

Winston played well but lost in his regular season debut at Atlanta. The next week, he threw two INTs- in a shaky 26-23 win over Cleveland. Then came the four-interception meltdown at Cincinnati that put him back on the bench.

Fitzpatrick rallied the Bucs from 18 points down in the fourth quarter but the Bucs lost 37-34. He started- three more games, losing at Carolina, home vs. Washington and Sunday at the Giants.

Fitzpatrick's final pass Sunday was a high, deep throw to DeSean Jackson that was intercepted by safety Curtis Riley.

"I just threw it up," Fitzpatrick said. "I threw it up. He's either going to make a play or they were and when you throw up 50-50 balls, fifty percent of the time they get them."

But Koetter took issue with Monday with that description.

"That wasn't a 50-50 ball," Koetter said. "That was a bad decision. A 50-50 ball is a ball that's thrown deep against the proper coverage and that's not what that was. And you know, I'm sorry if I have to disagree with that but I'm going to lie about that. That wasn't an opportunity ball. That was a poor decision.''

Although there was no announcement Monday on who the No. 2 quarterback will be Sunday, Koetter said he would consider Ryan Fitzpatrick, who has never throw a pass in a regular season game.

"I would, of course," Koetter said. "I've said many times I have of ton of confidence in Ryan Griffin. He doesn't have the game experience but of course, I would."

Koetter said he didn't know if Winston will start the remaining six games.

"I never go into it thinking it's a week to week thing," Koetter said. "But I think continuity is a cop out. We've got capable quarterbacks. There's no reason they can't play consistent football. I've seen them do it. I mean I know they can do it.

"You're asking me to predict the future and unfortunately I can't do that."

"Oh, it's very important," Taggart said Monday. "We're a prideful university. We pride ourselves on winning, and you think about the streak, that's winning. We have been winning every year. So it's very important that we go out and give our fans, our alumni, our former players and coaches that have been here and our current players and coaches everything we can to see that we get this victory and keep it going."

Francois running

Considering how much Taggart has relied on running quarterbacks (see: Flowers, Quinton) in the past, FSU QB Deondre Francois' lack of involvement in the run game has been a mild surprise. That started to change last week when Francois carried the ball a season-high nine times (excluding sacks).

Taggart said Francois has been willing to rush more often. The Seminoles finally allowed him to do it last week because he was healthy enough and there were running lanes open for him.

"It was good to see him go out there and run with a purpose and get us some yardage that we needed when it happened," Taggart said. "So I know there's things we can do that can help us on offense with him running the football, but it was good for him to go out there and for us to call the plays to allow him to do that."

Emory update

Gators QB Emory Jones has already appeared in one game against a rival (Georgia) as a true freshman. It doesn't sound as if the blue-chip talent will play in another this week.

Jones has played in three games, so he can only appear in one more without burning his redshirt and losing a year of eligibility. With QB Kyle Trask (foot) sidelined this week and possibly for the bowl game, Jones is UF's top backup, behind starter Feleipe Franks.

"He's a snap away from being our starter," Mullen said. "So we're going to prepare for him to play. Then during the game, we'll make the decision whether or not he goes in or not."

Translation: UF would prefer not to play him, unless Franks gets injured. A specialty Jones package (like the one the Gators used against Georgia) seems more likely for the bowl game than this weekend.

Extreme paranoia

Mullen was asked Monday about an urban legend involving former UF coach Urban Meyer, who supposedly didn't want his players to eat in Tallahassee ... because he was afraid they'd be poisoned. Mullen didn't deny the story, or the sentiment behind it.

"As coaches, we're paranoid about everything," Mullen said. "You are. I mean, if you go on the road and somebody like gets sick or something after dinner, you're like, 'Oh, they poisoned us.' As a coach you're paranoid about everything all the time. But you would hope that would not really happen. College football, man, they're some passionate people about college football and about their teams. So we're always cautious about everything going on."

DUNEDIN - Members of the Kiwanis Club of Dunedin will be cooking and selling hot dogs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Dec. 1, at the entrance to Ace Hardware at 1750 Main St. The purpose of the sale is to provide scholarships to the Adventure Amputee Camp at Nantahala Outdoor Center near Briceson, N.C. The camp was started in 1995 and provides a variety of outdoor activities for children ages 8 to 16 years old who have lost a limb. All expenses are paid for the children. The children are able to participate in a wide variety of outdoor activities which include white water rafting, ropes course, canoeing and water skiing.

TAMPA-- Tuesday marks the one-month anniversary of USF's last victory. The team's bowl projections and body language have become equally bothersome. Twitter discussions about Bulls coaches have reached alarming levels of toxicity.

"We just haven't put together a complete game in all three phases," coach Charlie Strong said Monday, repeating what has become a tagline for the season.

Yet despite the on-field mediocrity and off-field vitriol, an opportunity remains for these Bulls (7-4, 3-4) to become memorable, historic, perhaps even endearing.

A triumph Friday against No. 8 UCF (10-0, 7-0) would afford them such status, and salvage an otherwise dreary season.

In a year when they failed to snag that elusive first conference title or secure a bowl trip anywhere near New Year's Day, the Bulls still can notch what would go down as arguably the biggest win in program history.

"This game means everything," said cornerback Mazzi Wilkins, a Plant High alumnus and one of 18 seniors who will be recognized Friday.

"We have very high expectations for ourselves, so I don't know if it can completely (save the year), but it would definitely heal a lot of the wounds that happened. It would make us feel a little bit better about ourselves."

Wilkins is downplaying the euphoria a win Friday would elicit. A little bit better? Imagine the spontaneous celebration that would ensue on the Raymond James Stadium field if USF were to prevail. Imagine the radiance emitting from players' faces as they hoist the "War on I-4" trophy. Imagine the media buzz.

If it could snap UCF's 23-game streak, USF would momentarily become a national darling, days after ESPN and College GameDay spent a weekend fawning over the Knights.

"It would mean a lot, especially for this program," senior defensive end Josh Black said. "Just to come mess up their season, put a nice little cap on our season."

Of course, bringing that scenario to fruition likely will require more than a complete game. It may call for a perfect one.

Notoriously slow starters for most of the season, the Bulls must seize early momentum (see Tyre McCants vs. UCF, 2017). Offensively, they must be diverse and consistent, especially on first down.

And they absolutely, positively can't give up explosive plays (of 20 or more yards) to a team that averages nearly nine of them per contest.

"It's a lot of home run balls for them," Strong said. "We can't allow them to take the ball and pitch it over our head for 60- and 70-yard plays."

To be sure, the prerequisites are many. But the payoff would be enormous. Instead of ending a season demoralized, these Bulls in a sense could be immortalized.

"I know personally with myself, I was a little disappointed (with the season)," Wilkins said. "But I know this game would definitely make it better, and I know it would make my brothers feel happy as well."

Why did this election take so long? The election should have been done Nov. 6. Why were votes still being counted?

Actually, the election took no more time than any other election, we just normally don't notice the extended timeline. Florida's election law doesn't require final results until nearly two weeks after Election Day. For those two weeks, votes always continue to trickle in- for example, overseas absentee ballots were never supposed to be counted until Saturday, Nov. 17. Most of the time, one candidate already has a clear lead by the time those ballots are tabulated, so no one is paying attention to the final vote counts that change slightly within that two-week window, because ultimately they won't change the result.

As long as one candidate has a lead of more than 0.5 percent from the second-place finisher, that timeline never gets public attention. Races that fall within that margin trigger a recount process, and this year races for governor, senator and agriculture commissioner were that close. Recount results are due Sunday, Nov. 18 in Tallahassee. Two days from then, Tuesday, Nov. 20, has always been the day that Florida planned on certifying the 2018 election results. It's just very rare for the rest of us to be paying attention this far after Election Day.

What is voter fraud and did it happen?

Voter fraud is a broad term that refers to any illegal interference in an election. The umbrella term can include everything a wide range of things - bribery, illegal voter registration, tampering with voting machines or ballot boxes, voter impersonation, vote buying, false advertising about the election date or how to vote and other illegal activities - according to government elections information.

Voter fraud implies intent to interfere, and does not include the effect of incompetence which can still be illegal but would not reach the level of criminal.

Voter fraud is rare, according to the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University's School of Law. A national review of the 2016 election found four documented cases of voter fraud.

There has been no evidence of fraud in the Florida elections to date, despite allegations from high-profile Republicans including President Donald Trump. Rick Scott's campaign has provided no evidence to support its claims of voter fraud in Broward and Palm Beach counties. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement said it has received no reports of illegal activity activity in Broward, nor had Scott formally requested an investigation into voter fraud.

If it's not fraud, what-happened in Broward County?

The consensus answer seems to be disorganization and mistakes, and some of the things that happened might be illegal, but it will take a judge to determine that.

There is no denying, Broward County's Department of Elections has had its share of problems. They include publishing results too early, publishing results late, a high-profile hack by the Russian government and illegal ballot destruction, a ruling that did not include comment on criminal intent. It turns out, Broward Elections Department was directly responsible for only about half of those mishaps.

So why is Broward County in the hot seat this time around? The results of the entire machine recount were thrown out after the county was two minutes late in submitting results, and more than 2,000 ballots went missing due to "co-mingling" of early voting ballots. Those votes were counted in the initial tally Nov. 10 and submitted to the state Sunday.

On Sunday, Broward will submit its original results, tallied on election night, plus overseas ballots, provisional ballots that were later accepted by the canvassing board, and 27 mail ballots accepted after cure affidavits were submitted by the extended deadline.

The state has had election officials stationed at the county elections office since Election Day to oversee its election administration. The have reported no instances of criminal activity, said Florida Division of Elections spokeswoman Sarah Revell. The Herald is still waiting on the state to fulfill a records request for that would give us access to correspondences from those observers. No official reports have been filed.

The first, and so far only, instance in which state officials have flagged a possible violation of elections law concerns faulty forms sent to voters in at least four counties, including Broward, that may have caused them to miss the deadline for fixing problems with their mail-in ballots. Emails released by Florida Department of State show that the forms appear to have been sent by the state Democratic Party. The FDOS has asked federal prosecutors to investigate.

Also, 23 ballots, previously ruled invalid by the Broward County canvassing board, will be counted in the state's official total after being mixed in with just under 200 valid ballots. Brenda Snipes said she doesn't expect any race to be swayed by 23 votes.

Did Broward miss the deadline intentionally to not include Nelson's sliding vote count?

There's no evidence Broward intentionally missed the deadline. In the six days between the machine recount being ordered and the 3 p.m. deadline, Herald reporters observed staff working day and night to recount votes.

When it was announced Broward had missed the deadline by two minutes due to unfamiliarity in using the state portal, Broward's director of elections planning, Joseph D'Alessandro, said, "Basically I just worked my ass off for nothing."

Had the state received Broward's second count, Rick Scott would have benefited by about 700 votes in a race where he currently leads by more than 12,500 votes.

The machine recount votes could have been submitted to the final state total on Sunday if the canvassing board and supervisor of elections so chose, but they decided against it because of the 2,040 early voting ballots that were improperly handled and not counted in the machine recount. Judges said they didn't want to disenfranchise the 2,040 voters.

What happened to my absentee ballot and how do I know it counted?

We have received dozens of reports from voters-from both parties and non-affiliated- about problems they had with mail ballots. Many never received their mail ballot, despite applying sometimes months in advance. Others, said they mailed theirs back with plenty of time, only to have it not arrive at the department of elections by the deadline, 7 p.m. on Election Day. It is impossible to quantify the extent of the problem or the impact it may have had on the final results of tight races.

The breakdown seems to have happened on multiple fronts. In some cases, it seems that elections departments may have been slow to send out requested mail ballots. However, it also appears that sending the ballots by mail took longer this year. Elections officials say the amount of time a ballot sits in the mail is a question for the United States Postal Service and out of their control. Previously, a week was considered enough time. However, voters told the Herald their votes weren't received despite being sent sometimes two or more weeks in advance.

A recent study by the ACLU also found that mail ballots are 10 times more likely to be rejected than ballots cast any other way. The most common reason is a problem with the signature, the study found.

Mail ballots with mismatched or missing signatures are rejected by county canvassing boards. The voter will then be notified by the elections department of the problem with their ballot and given the opportunity to submit identification along with a "cure affidavit" affirming the voter is who they say they are. The original deadline for submitting the cure affidavit was Nov. 5 at 5 pm. However, a U.S. Circuit Court judge ruled that deadline was unfair for the voters whose ballots arrived between Nov. 5 and Nov. 6 - in other words, in time to meet the deadline for ballot submission, but too late to fix any problems because of the deadline for submitting a cure affidavit. The deadline for submitting a new, updated cure affidavit, was Saturday, Nov. 17 at 5 pm.

Between Miami-Dade and Broward - the only elections departments we currently have these numbers for - 33 mail ballots were accepted due to affidavits submitted. by the mail ballot.

To check the status of your mail ballot, visit the State Elections Department's voter information look up. The portal has information on when the ballot was sent out, when it was returned to the elections department, and whether or not it has been tabulated. If the ballot is marked tabulated, it counted. If there was a problem with the signatures, that will also be reflected in the portal.

According to Robert Rodriguez of Miami-Dade Elections, the online portals should be updated within 24 hours of tabulation. (Originally, it took three days, he said, but that was recently changed.) Given that all results have to be submitted to the state on Sunday, check the portal at the end of the day Monday to see if your mail ballot was counted.

What happened to the ballots from the Opa-locka post office?

One election mishap in Miami-Dade that drew national attention was the fate of scores of mail-in ballots that, after Election Day, were still in the postal distribution center in Opa-locka. Florida law requires mail-in ballots that arrive by Election Day to be counted, no matter when they were mailed or postmarked. Miami-Dade said it received 266 mail-in ballots from the Opa-locka center on Nov. 10, four days after Election Day. The department said it would not add the ballots to its totals since Florida law does not allow it.

Did they really count every ballot by hand?

No. Just a tiny portion of the ballots cast statewide. The manual recount for the U.S. Senate and agriculture commissioner race only looks at ballots where a machine scanner was unable to record a vote for either contest. Teams of election inspectors screened those ballots, and a three-person canvassing board made the final decision on whether to count them for one candidate or another.

I didn't vote for one of the constitutional amendments. Was my ballot not counted?

Don't worry, it was counted. Machine scanners are programmed to count every vote that's readable on a ballot. A contest that is left blank is registered as an "undervote." Undervotes only get close attention during a manual recount, a laborious process reserved for unusually tight contests.

Manual recounts are underway for the senate and agriculture-commissioner races. Election inspectors look at any ballot a machine registered as blank for the contest being recounted but ignore the rest of the ballot. So if you didn't vote for a constitutional amendment but did vote for agriculture commissioner and senate, the rest of your ballot was counted by Election Day and likely ignored during the current manual recount.

How many absentee voided votes (no signature or not matching) were there?

The Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau asked all 67 counties for these numbers. About half the counties responded. Based on those responses, we know at least 743 vote-by-mail ballots were rejected due to not having a signature. At least, 1,069 vote-by-mail ballots were rejected for having a mismatched signature. Information presented by the Division of Elections to a federal judge reported about 3,600 mismatched vote-by-mail ballots, though not all counties responded to that request for information, so the total is likely higher. These numbers were reported prior to a federal judge's extending the deadline for voters to cure mismatched signatures. Because of this, some of these mismatches will be fixed and these numbers will likely shift down.

On Saturday Nov. 17, Miami-Dade county accepted six previously rejected mail ballots after the voters successfully appealed within the extended timeline. Broward County accepted 27.

How many other votes were rejected?

In addition to the rejected vote-by-mail ballots for signature-related issues, at least 1,341 provisional ballots were rejected. Provisional ballots are usually issued if a voter is unable to provide ID to verify his or her identity at the polls or if he or she shows up at the wrong precinct.

For those whose vote-by-mail or provisional ballot is rejected due to a signature mismatch, county election offices notify the person and they have a fixed time frame in which to fix the mismatched signature. Vote-by-mail ballots that arrived after the 7 p.m. Election Day deadline are not counted.

Why are the first count and machine recount different? Shouldn't the results be the same? Do the discrepancies mean there is something wrong with the system?

In the first and second recount, votes are tallied using ballot-scanning machines. Before being used, machines are tested for accuracy. But it's possible that while machines started out calibrated, after processing thousands of ballots the machine became worn out and simply didn't tabulate some votes, said Michael T. Morley, an assistant professor of law at Florida State University. It's also possible that there could be a data-reporting error on behalf of the county, or it's possible some ballots were accidentally not reprocessed. All of these possibilities could be true in either the first count or machine recount, so it's hard to know which is the correct number.

However, generally speaking, most counties only report slight discrepancies. In the 2018 midterm machine recount, statewide there was a difference of about 800 votes in each of the three recounted races. This did nothing to change the percent difference between all of the candidates, moving two races to a manual statewide recount. If a race were contested by just a few hundred votes, this could be significant. Under Florida law, if a county successfully reports its machine recount numbers to the state by the deadline, those second results will take the place of the first. Else, the first numbers stand.

Broward County in particular reported 3,500 fewer votes in its Senate race after the machine recount, as well as 2,400 fewer votes for Governor and 2,000 fewer votes for Commissioner of Agriculture. Though Broward finished its recount on time, trouble using the state's website led it to report its results two minutes after the deadline. Staffers also mishandled 2,040 early voting ballots and didn't count them. Because of this, its first results were used in the state numbers released after the machine recount deadline. Rick Scott's campaign has asked the Secretary of State to use the certified second count, which favored him, though the county canvassing board has chosen to use the first count.

Hillsborough County also had fewer votes - 846 fewer - than the initial unofficial total. Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections Craig Latimer noted that his office experienced two power outages and lost a voting machine. Hillsborough chose not to submit its recounted numbers.

Why was there such a large discrepancy between votes cast in the governor and U.S. Senate races in Broward County? Is this evidence of voter fraud?

Broward's director of elections planning, Joseph D'Alessandro, told judges that the discrepancy between the first count and the recount - about 2,040 votes - was due to "a commingling of ballots."

"We did not correctly handle the ballots," he said. "We are going to look into that and see what took place."

Broward Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes later said the discrepancy came from misfiled early voting ballots that weren't counted. The county's canvassing board ordered her to preserve all digital records of every ballot. Snipes recommended to the canvassing board that numbers from the first count be used, a proposal the board accepted.

When I went on-elections results pages, I-noticed more voters-were added-after-Election Day. What gives?

You may have noticed that number of registered voters has risen on some county election results pages or on their website's main page since the election. This doesn't change the number who could vote on Election Day. In Florida, you must be registered to vote 29 days before the election to vote. That was Oct. 9 for the 2018 general election. Those registered voters are the population of total possible voters in an election.

But more people register every day. Teens can also pre-register to vote in Florida, so when they turn 18, they become a registered voter and are added to that tally. Some counties are better about updating the current number of registered voters than others, so if you think something looks weird, check what the "updated date" is next to the registration numbers on the county supervisor of elections page. Leon County hasn't updated since October while Broward updates daily, so it depends.

The bottom line: the total number of voters listed now, is not the same as it was on election day. And total eligible voters does not equal the total number of people who actually voted.

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{7B02E172-A43F-425D-E053-0100007F710B}Pubdate:Mon, 19 Nov 2018 05:25:53 -0500ST. PETERSBURG - Two people were killed early Monday morning and a portion of 38 Avenue N was closed following a crash in a stolen car.

According to St. Petersburg police, a 2016 Mazda Miata was speeding west on 38th Avenue N about 3:30 a.m. As the car approached 49th Street N, the driver lost control, swerved and hit a tree. The Miata caught fire.

The Miata had been stolen just hours before the crash, authorities said.

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{7B084F15-D10E-5167-E053-0100007F499B}Pubdate:Mon, 19 Nov 2018 15:40:42 -0500Thanksgiving travel week is upon us, and so, too, are low gas prices. Gas prices in Florida are on track to be the lowest in two years, a boon for the 2.5 million travelers AAA, The Auto Club Group, expects to take to the roadways for the holiday this week.

Florida gas prices averaged $2.49 a gallon Monday, down 8 cents over the week. Tampa Bay gas was $2.32 a gallon, down 9 cents over the week. Nationally, gas was $2.62 per gallon.

"The state average should carve off another 5 cents before Thanksgiving," Mark Jenkins, spokesman for AAA, said in a news release.-&quot;Florida's average price should eventually reach $2.35 before fully adjusting to recent oil and wholesale gas price declines."

Bucs coach Dirk Koetter- knows who he wants to start at quarterback Sunday against the 49ers.

He just hasn't informed Jameis Winston or Ryan Fitzpatrick of his decision, and until he does, Koetter isn't saying.

"I want to start off by telling you I know I said I would talk about the quarterback thing today," Koetter said at the start of his news conference. "I have not had a chance to talk to those guys individually.

"Even though I know what we're going to do at quarterback, I'm not going to be able to say today because I would never tell the media before I told the quarterbacks themselves. Hope to get that done here this afternoon, but it just hasn't worked out so far."

Fitzpatrick was benched in the third quarter of Sunday's 38-35 loss against the New York Giants after throwing his third interception of the game. Winston, who had not played since he was pulled Oct. 28 at Cincinnati, led the Bucs to touchdowns on four consecutive drives in the second half.

If you include having to start Fitzpatrick in the season opener at New Orleans due to Winston's three-game suspension, this could be the fourth change since the start of the season. Fitzpatrick went 2-2, beating the Saints and Eagles before losing to the Steelers and Bears. He was replaced by Winston, who lost to the Falcons and beat the Browns before throwing four interceptions, including a pick-six, in a loss to the Bengals.

Winston certainly helped his cause by completing 12 of 16 for 199 yards with two touchdowns and an interception on the final play of the game for the Bucs.

"He played better. Yup," Koetter said. "You're asking me to put a statistical number on it. He played better.

"He got us in the end zone four straight times. For the most part, he made good decisions with the football.''

Snipes' resignation, first reported by the Sun-Sentinel, came only hours after her staff ended a brutal two-week stretch in which they misplaced 2,000 ballots during a statewide recount, mixed about two dozen invalid ballots with about 200 good ones, and blew a deadline to submit machine recount results to the state.

Snipes was attacked as corrupt by President Donald Trump and other Republicans, accused without evidence of trying to steal the U.S. Senate election by Gov. Rick Scott and maligned as "incompetent" by U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio. Egged on by the allegations, Republican protestors spent days outside Snipes' Lauderhill headquarters during a state-mandated recount claiming that she was rigging the elections.

The Florida Department of State provided Snipes' letter of resignation on Monday morning. It was sent to Gov. Rick Scott, and the effective date is Jan. 4.

"It has been my passion and honor to serve as the Supervisor of Elections for Broward County voters," Snipes' letter begins. "When I was appointed to this position on November 20, 2003, my initial commitment was to serve out the remaining term of office and pass the torch to the person who would be elected in the next election cycle. Needless to say, that was almost fifteen years ago.

"Although I have enjoyed this work tremendously over these many election cycles, both large and small, I am ready to pass the torch. Therefore, I request that you accept my letter of resignation effective January 4, 2019."

Attempts to reach Snipes were unsuccessful.

Evelyn Pérez-Verdia, a former communications consultant for Snipes' office, tweeted early Sunday evening that Snipes had sent her resignation to the state.

"I spoke to one of her key people, [who] has confirmed that the resignation letter was sent today," Pérez-Verdia said on Twitter.

Dr. Snipes has sent her resignation letter to Tallahassee. Meaning @RonDeSantisFL will be appointing the new Supervisor of Elections of Broward.

Snipes' resignation ends a 15-year run that began in 2003 when then-governor Jeb Bush appointed her to replace beleaguered elections supervisor Miriam Oliphant, whom he'd suspended over mismanagement of her office. Snipes was elected in 2004 and reelected three times after, the latest in 2016 - an election in which she was lambasted for leaving a medical marijuana ballot question off some ballots and for illegally releasing vote totals before polls had closed.

Both issues were blamed on vendors.

But Snipes, 75, had a long history of trouble in her department. Republican attorneys accused her of improper procedures during the presidential election - attacks she blamed on politics in the state's most Democratic county - and she was later admonished by a judge for prematurely destroying ballots from a congressional race. By last week, Bush, the man who appointed her, was among those calling for her removal.

Most recently, during the 2018 primaries, Democratic consultants grumbled about her department after it was slow in releasing results - ultimately a precursor for the general election, during which Snipes' office continued for days to process early and absentee ballots, eventually helping to push races for governor, U.S. Senate and agriculture commissioner into mandated machine recounts. She lacked explanations when her office continued to process tens of thousands of early and absentee ballots in the two days that followed the close of polls on the midterm elections, and later ordered by a judge to turn over public records after Scott sued her for information that should have been publicly available.

"It's a big operation but there are some things that need to be tweaked on all sides in terms of the processes that make up elections," Snipes told reporters after the Broward canvassing board submitted its final 2018 elections to the state. Asked if she was concerned that governor-elect Ron DeSantis might suspend her from office, she said "my attorney says I should not answer that."

Snipes' resignation means that her appointment will be up to Florida's governor. Scott will be sworn in Jan. 3 as a U.S Senator, meaning her scheduled resignation would leave the office open during the interim reign of current Lieutenant Governor Carlos Lopez-Cantera. DeSantis won't be sworn in until Jan. 8.

It's not yet clear whether Lopez-Cantera would appoint Snipes' replacement or leave the seat open until DeSantis becomes governor. Snipes' term runs until 2020.

After grueling machine and manual recounts for the razor-thin race, Nicole "Nikki" Fried emerged victorious in the contest to replace term-limited Adam Putnam by just 6,753 votes - a margin of .08 percent.

Caldwell, the only statewide GOP candidate to lose, was ahead of Fried by about half of one percent on election night, which triggered a state law requiring two recounts: one by machine, one by hand.

He writes that his loss was a result of the "abject failures" in Broward and Palm Beach counties, and that he would not pursue further legal action.

Caldwell filed a lawsuit in Broward County earlier last week, asking the court to determine if Brenda Snipes, the Broward County supervisor of elections, "illegally included ballots after polls closed" Nov. 6. His campaign also filed a public-records request for vote counts and emails among Snipes, her team and any third parties regarding ballot-counting.

Snipes misplaced more than 2,000 ballots and Palm Beach County's supervisor, Susan Bucher, said technical problems and understaffing meant their recount may not be finished until Christmas. Snipes' staff missed the state deadline to turn in machine recount numbers, and Bucher's never submitted them at all.

On Saturday, Caldwell filed a petition for a writ of mandamus in Broward to mandate the county to submit machine recount results to the state, which would give Republicans a net increase.

That petition was denied, according to Broward County attorney Andrew Meyers.

"It has become clear that we may never gain an understanding of what transpired in the hours and days after polls closed, despite the exhaustive efforts of my legal team to get to the truth," Caldwell said.

Caldwell, an eight-year veteran of the House, said he is proud of his time in the public eye and has offered to assist Fried in any way he can.

"I hope to see Florida continue to prosper and pursue the proper balance between all of the things that make this state great."

In a separate letter addressed to Detzner, Caldwell wrote that supervisors across the state failed to act "fairly and competently," ultimately undermining voters' confidence in the process.

Caldwell laid out a long list of errors and failures that he said "plagued the vote counting process," including problems with logic and accuracy tests, improper commingling of provisional ballots in Broward County and the 2,000-vote discrepancy between first and second unofficial results reported by Broward County.

"We cannot afford to have another election that produces similar delays, irregularities and questions over the validity of the election system," he wrote. "Let's get in front of this problem now so we can be the model for fair, free and open elections, instead of the target of national criticism and derision."

Cabinet officers and new members will be sworn in Tuesday during the Legislature's organizational session.

OLDSMAR - After years of quiet election cycles filled with automatic reappointments and little turnover on the City Council, voters will have some decisions to make on Election Day in March.

Current City Council member Eric Seidel had previously announced his intention to run for mayor next year, setting up a three-person (so far) scramble for his seat.

"I've served under three different mayors over the years and have served three times as vice mayor," Seidel said of his decision to relinquish Seat 1 after the election, regardless of the outcome. "I believe the experiences have helped to prepare me to be our next mayor."

Seidel currently has no opposition on the ballot, but three candidates have qualified in the race to see who fills his vacant spot.

Matt Clarke, a native Australian known for his community service, and Andrew Knapp, an Oldsmar native who has volunteered for local nonprofits, are a pair of political newcomers.

"I feel that I am rightly positioned to lend my talents to help improve the city," Knapp wrote on his campaign Facebook page. "I am an engineer by occupation and a problem solver by nature. I have been doing my homework as to how our city currently works, and I'm ready to put in the effort to make it work that much better."

Via Facebook messenger, Clarke said, "Oldsmar is looking for a fresh face with a proven track record in the community. It's time to get fresh minds with common sense solutions and the drive to get things done and possibly start thinking outside the box on some issues."

The pair learned they would be running against an experienced local lawmaker when Linda Norris announced her intention to re-enter public life last month following a three-year hiatus.

"I always planned to run again because I love serving the city of Oldsmar and all the citizens," Norris, who served two terms before term limits forced her out in 2016. "Now that I'm semi-retired, I will have more time to dedicate to the city and moving Oldsmar forward."

Norris said she was preparing for a tough but fair fight.

"Everybody should be afforded the opportunity to run for office, and I look forward to the challenge," she said, noting she would once again donate the majority of her council salary to local nonprofit Oldsmar Cares should she be elected. "I think this is exactly what our democracy is all about."

To date the race for Seat 1 is Dan Saracki's to win, as the incumbent hasn't had a challenger qualify.

"I look forward to working with city staff and council to build a downtown area of which Oldsmar can be proud and support all projects that maintain a safe and vibrant community in which to live, work and play,'' Saracki said.

The race for Seat 4 features a contrast between the two candidates who have qualified so far, political newcomer Katie Gannon and longtime council member Jerry Beverland.

Gannon, a lawyer who does a lot of volunteer work in the city, said on her campaign website she hopes to be "a new voice for Oldsmar."

"I'm a wife, a mother, and a lawyer. I'm a member of the Florida Bar, the Oldsmar Leisure Services Advisory Board, the Oldsmar Historical Society, the Oldsmar Woman's Club, and Friends of the Oldsmar Library," Gannon's biography page reads. "If we aren't already friends, I hope to meet you during the next few months to find out what's important to you and how you feel about the city's progress."

Beverland, who has written four books on Oldsmar's history, was first elected to council in the 1970s and has served several terms as mayor, vice-mayor and council member over the past 40 plus years.

He came out of a short retirement to win a close race for Seat 4 in 2016.

"I thought about not running again (next year),'' he said,-&quot;but then I thought it would be my last time, so why not?"

The man who is known for never being afraid to speak his mind said he welcomed the challenge from Gannon, whom he has met and said "seems like a nice lady. But he also has never been one to back down and he said he likes his chances to earn one final term.

"I've got 52 years of experience in this city," Beverland said. "I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I know what's going on and I know the history of this town."

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{7B0A0B93-67B1-6994-E053-0100007F4314}Pubdate:Mon, 19 Nov 2018 14:39:25 -0500A woman who died after plunging 14 stories off a Princess cruise ship that had set sail from Florida has been identified as a 52-year-old American.

Almarosa Tenorio died after she fell from the Royal Princess as it sailed in the Caribbean between Curacao and Aruba on Tuesday. People aboard the 3,600-passenger ship were awakened by an announcement at 4:30 a.m. that something had happened near one of the life boats.

The FBI is investigating along with prosecutors in Aruba, who told ABC News that homicide is a possible cause of death. Currently, her death is being classified as-&quot;unnatural." An autopsy and forensic investigation have been conducted.

Tenorio was traveling with her husband, but he is not considered a suspect, according to ABC. The cruise ship returned to Fort Lauderdale over the weekend.

Her family released a statement and told ABC News that she was a loving mother, grandmother and volunteer teacher's aide. They also said she was an avid cruiser and traveler.

"Almarosa was a very loving daughter, sister, mom and grandmother with a good heart," he wrote.-&quot;Her passion was teaching and working with children. She had a vivacious personality with a smile that would light up a room. We are sad that she was taken from us at such a young age. She will be missed by all that knew her."

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{7B02E172-A452-425D-E053-0100007F710B}Pubdate:Mon, 19 Nov 2018 14:36:03 -0500Three people were injured Monday afternoon in a single-car rollover crash that backed up southbound lanes on U.S. 19 in Clearwater.

According to Clearwater Fire and Rescue, the crash occurred in the around 1:45 p.m. between Sunset Point Road and Enterprise Road around 1:45 p.m., and only one southbound lane is getting by.

Three people have been taken to Bayfront Health St. Petersburg for treatment of non-life threatening injuries, officials said.

Tampa's Janet Cruz-and Dana Young state Senate race was probably the costliest race for a state legislative seat in Florida history, more than $12 million.

An exact figure isn't possible, however, because campaign finance laws don't require political parties and interest groups to reveal how much money they put into individual races and where the money comes from.

Christian Ulvert, a veteran Democratic strategist and adviser to the Cruz campaign, estimated that Young, the state Republican Party and her independent political committee, Friends of Dana Young, spent $7 million or more for her re-election effort.

Cruz's campaign, the Democratic Party and her independent political committee, Building the Bay, spent around $5 million to unseat Young.

A manual recount concluded Friday showed Cruz leading by 382 votes, or 0.18 percent of the 207,654 cast.

But most of the biggest expenses on both sides, including TV, direct mail and the cost of campaign staff and polling, was paid for by the parties through their senatorial campaign committees.

Those committees take in big contributions, not subject to campaign contribution limits, from corporate donors, PACs and interest groups, many of whom stand to profit from decisions by the Legislature.

Friends of Dana Young and Building the Bay, which also don't have contributions limits, funneled more money to the party committees.

The party committees don't specifically report how much they spend on any one particular race, because under Florida law, much of their ad spending is considered "party building" rather than direct campaign spending.

That makes it almost impossible to come up with an exact spending figure, or to match the big donors to spending in the race.

But Galvano said the Republican committee spend almost $6.5 million in "race-specific" costs for the Cruz-Young race, and Ulvert said the Democratic side spent about $5 million.

"It's the reality of running senate races which are tantamount to a congressional district in urban areas," where television advertising is expensive, said Galvano. "I've watched the races get more and more expensive every (election) cycle.

He said that doesn't suggest a need for changes in campaign finance law - "It's just what it is today."

Florida's 40 state senators are paid $29,697 a year. A starting public school teacher makes about $38,000.

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{7B0401B5-07EC-46C7-E053-0100007F74AD}Pubdate:Mon, 19 Nov 2018 14:04:24 -0500Just days after she was born, her family took Katarina "Kat" Moller to a race track where her father Tom Moller was competing in a dragster.

Few were surprised years later when Ms. Moller took up the sport, as well.

"As a baby she went from the hospital to the racetrack," said Elaine Larsen, who with husband Chris Larsen owns the Larsen Motorsports team for which Ms. Moller raced. "Watching her was watching a kid who was born to race."

Ms. Moller, a University of South Florida graduate who worked in her native Sarasota as a manufacturing engineer, died Thursday when she crashed a dragster capable of 300 mph speeds during an exhibition run at Sebring International Raceway.

She was 24.

"The dictionary describes the adjective of home as 'relating to the place where one lives,'" co-owner Chris Larsen said. "Kat was at home at the racetrack."

Former Larsen Motorsports teammate Marisha Falk, now a private jet pilot living in Wimauma, remembered Ms. Moller as a dragster who always had time for fans, especially the kids.

"Drag racing is a very fan friendly environment," Falk said. "But it can be hard when so many fans want attention. Kat always made sure she had the time for the little ones."

When she wasn't at the race track, Ms. Moller put her USF mechanical engineering degree to work as an employee of Radiant Power Corp., producing power management products for the aviation and aerospace industries.

She was also pursuing a master's degree in manufacturing engineering from Melbourne-based Florida Institute of Technology. And her image is front and center on USF's web page for "Prospective Engineering Students."

"We were always in awe of her," Radiant president Anish Patel said. "She had a real calm and sweet demeanor here and a completely different demeanor on the race track. Today, we are in shock and we are numb."

In 2013, Ms. Moller told the Tampa Tribune that she first began racing at age 11.

"I grew up on the racetrack with my dad," she said. "I knew it was something I wanted to try out. Once I got in a car, I knew it was something I wanted to make a career of."

From the junior dragster division, she graduated to Sportsman Mustang, then her dad's Super-Pro dragster, she told the Tribune.

"It didn't matter what car I put her in, it wasn't fast enough," her father Tom said in 2013. "She constantly wanted to go to the next class and go faster."

When Ms. Moller joined Larsen Motorsports in 2013, she was thought to be the youngest female drag racer in the world.

"She was like a little sister to everybody," former teammate Falk said. "She was always upbeat. She always wanted to cheer people up."

Falk recalled a race between her and Ms. Moller during their first year together with Larsen Motorsports.

They were talking trash to one another before the race. But when Ms. Moller won, "She came back and gave me a big hug and apologized for beating me," Falk said. "That's who Kat was."

Team co-owner Chris Larsen echoed that sentiment.

"She wanted to win but she was always happy because she just loved to race," he said. "She didn't care if she raced a moped or a go-cart. That girl just wanted to race."

In a Facebook post the day before the crash, Ms. Moller wrote that she was excited to compete at the Sebring International Raceway, where her father once drag-raced and her brother Tommy Moller now drift-races. Ms. Moller's boyfriend Kyle Fawcett also races cars.

"She loved being at the track," Elaine Larsen said. "If her boyfriend asked where they should go on a date, she'd say the track.

"I envied the way racing ran through her blood. It was something I loved to watch."

]]>DENVER - A Colorado man was sentenced Monday to life in prison for killing his pregnant wife and their two young daughters and dumping their bodies on an oil work site.

Prosecutors have said they agreed not to seek the death penalty in exchange for Christopher Watts' guilty plea, after seeking approval from Shanann Watts' family.

Watts had pleaded guilty to three charges of murder in the deaths of his wife, Shanann Watts, and their young daughters. He also pleaded guilty on Nov. 6 to two counts of killing a child, one count of unlawful termination of a pregnancy and three counts of tampering with a deceased human body.

The 33-year-old will not be eligible for parole.

A friend asked police to check on Shanann Watts on Aug. 13 after not being able to reach her and growing concerned that the 34-year-old expectant mother had missed a doctor's appointment. Officers initially handled the search and soon sought support from Colorado investigators and the FBI.

Meanwhile, Christopher Watts spoke to local television reporters from the front porch of the family's home in Frederick, a small town on the plains north of Denver where drilling rigs and oil wells surround booming subdivisions. Watts pleaded for his family safe return, telling reporters their house felt empty without 4-year-old Bella and 3-year-old Celeste watching cartoons or running to greet him at the door.

Within days, he was arrested and charged with killing his family.

Court records revealed that Watts acknowledged to police that he killed his wife. Watts told investigators that he strangled her in-&quot;a rage" when he discovered she had killed their daughters after he sought a separation.

Prosecutors have since called his account-&quot;a flat-out lie."

Police learned that Christopher Watts was having an affair with a co-worker. He had denied that before being arrested.

Authorities have not released autopsy reports or any information about how the mother and daughters died. Prosecutors have said the reports would be released after Watts was sentenced.

The girls' bodies were found submerged in an oil tank, on property owned by the company Watts worked for until his arrest. Shanann Watts' body was found buried nearby in a shallow grave.

The killings captured the attention of media across the country and became the focus of true crime blogs and online video channels, aided by dozens of family photos and videos that Shanann Watts shared on social media showing the smiling couple spending time with their children.

But courts records showed the couple's lifestyle caused financial strain at times. They filed for bankruptcy in June 2015, six months after Christopher Watts was hired as an operator for the large oil and gas driller Anadarko Petroleum at an annual salary of about $61,500. At the time, Shanann Watts was working in a children's hospital call center for $18 per hour.

They reported total earnings of $90,000 in 2014 but $70,000 in unsecured claims along with a mortgage of nearly $3,000. The claims included thousands of dollars in credit card debt, some student loans and medical bills.